Flora in August in Valley of Flowers, Himalaya Photo Journal

Nitin

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I don’t know where the search for God ends but it can surely begin at the Valley of Flowers.

What to expect at Valley of Flowers in Garhwal Himalaya

There is a Rs. 50 ticket per visit to Valley of Flowers. Camera charges are Rs. 100. No ponies allowed here. No overnight camping allowed. Therefore the track is clean. It is a pristine place. The locals respect the place a lot for its mystique. Do not touch, pluck, harm or smell a plant. There is no way of knowing which plant/flower/leaf might cause an itch, or intoxication.

Valley of Flowers is a UNESCO world Heritage Site in the Garhwal Himalayas, India.

Flowers in bloom in August: Valley of Flowers

The beauty of the place is that entire mountainsides are blooming with a single plant variety – which means, one mountainside is splashed with blue flowers, while the next one is in a different colour. Looks like those fields of gladioli planted at National Botanical Research Institute. Only, these are a handicraft of nature itself :-)

I don’t know where the search for God ends but it can surely begin at the Valley of Flowers. The most beautiful mountain path that I've ever seen. No horses, no vendors. Very little crowd. 30 people in all were there on the day I visited. Talk to the valley, the flowers, the mountains, muddy gushing rivers as long as you like.

Hemkund trek Map

GM:64

If you know names of any of the flowers shown in photos here, do drop us a line at editor@anandway.com, or write the flower’s number and name in the comment box given at the bottom of this page. Thanks.

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I did not see Brahm kamal in Valley of Flowers, but saw it 200 meters before Hemkund Saheb valley in the Saptshring parvats that surround Hemkund Sarovar.

Brahm kamal can be spotted from a long way off – fluorescent yellow flower head sticking out of the earth. The plant has lacy fern like green leaves, but the flower is most impressive. I did not touch or smell. A board forbids touching, plucking or smelling the flowers here. More so, locals say that if you pluck a Brahm kamal or any flower in the valley of Flowers you don't get back home. May be the lore simply means to preserve the rich flora here.

The Valley of Flowers has a path leading to Badrinath, but we didn’t try it. In fact, a single day’s visit to the Valley of Flowers does no justice to the place. The place deserves several visits. Back we go – a 3 km trek to Ghangharia’s Gurudwara, our base for treks to Hemkund Saheb and Valley of Flowers.